More While at Dartmouth speaking to the men's team this past weekend I received a common question, "what about long distance running?"

Ultimate players can cover multiple miles over the course of a tournament weekend. For a starting player I estimate they cover between 8,000-12,000m through 8 games (40-60 points, with ~200m per point). That's 4000-6000m/day. This is based on personal observational and case study experience. There isn't any ultimate running volume data I find convincing in research journals.

I'd consider it unsafe to train for, or train at, the volumes some players experience at tournaments. I've heard of college players playing 90+ points at a tournament. That's dangerous. Period.

So, based on those volume *assumptions*, we can cover 5-7.5 miles/tournament.

In your off-season/pre-season training you need to get close to the volume an athlete would experience in one day of a tournament.

Let your practices/alactic conditioning prepare you for the high intensity volume of tournaments.

What about those 3-5 mile distance runs?

12,000m = 7.5 miles6000m/day = 3.75 miles/day

Ok, so if I need to build up to that distance, why not just use long slow distance runs? Reread that wording again. Long SLOW distance (LSD). Most of ultimate is walking, running at ~70% speed, or moving at high intensities. Although you'd be meeting the distance guideline you'd be preparing in a way that doesn't match the demands of the sport. LSD helps develop aerobic fitness, but there are more specific methods.

I suggest using Tempo Runs as your primary method for developing aerobic fitness. Tempo running, following the Charlie Francis High/Low methodology, involves running at or below 75% intensity (speed) for that given distance interval. Rest periods can vary from 90s for starters to 30s for elite athletes, and the shorter the interval the shorter rest time needed. Avoidance of lactate buildup is key (that heavy, fatigued feeling in your legs). Here is an example, called the "Big Circuit" ala Charlie Francis.

That basic circuit totals to 1800m. This can be done on a field using the lengths for those listed intervals and the width for rest. Modify as necessary. I suggest avoiding a track if possible because high volumes on hard surfaces isn't the most friendly thing for shins and knees.

If you're using a field for 200m intervals keep the shuttles longer to minimize COD at first, then you can slowly add in more COD over time. The focus here is building volume.

For an athlete that has never run tempo intervals before keep the volume low. A trained athlete could safely start at 1500m on a soft surface. For untrained individuals start at 800-1000m and incorporate body weight and medicine ball exercises to get aerobic development without excess volume of running as they build capacity.

Now we have our path set for us. Starting at 1500m/session, I'd need to eventually progress to...~5,000m/session?!?!?!

Progressing Without Overtraining

According to Tim Gabbett, a training load researcher working with Australian rugby athletes, a 10% week to week volume increase is the safest bet. Mike Boyle in Advances in Functional Training, mentions a 20% increase as an upper limit for week to week increase. Slow and steady is your safest bet. For a trained athlete who has experienced the workloads your building up to a slightly faster progression (15-20% week to week) can be safer than for an untrained athlete.

So if I start at 1500m/session and do three tempo sessions per week my weekly volume is 4500m. For the following week:10% increase = ~5000m15% increase = ~5200m20% increase = ~5400m

5000m sessions three times a week is going to be too much. I suggest having one of your tempo days as a "volume building day" while keeping the other days at a lower volume. On the lower volume days you can start to incorporate more COD's if you're doing them in shuttle format.

You have two things to balance. First, you can't progress from 4500m to 5000m week to week, going from three 1500m days to one 5000m day. Balance your progression in meters/session and meters/week. Here's the math on how long it would take to build up to 5000m/session with a weekly limit of 10,000m total.

I'm untrained and I only have 6 weeks until the season starts.

That's OK. We don't live in an ideal world. Start at 800-1000m and build up slowly over time. Prepare as much as you can while progressing in a safe way.

I like distance runs and do them 3x/week.

If you do three 3 mile runs, you're covering 14,000m that week. Add on 2-3 practices and you're probably above 20,000m.

Tempo runs develop aerobic fitness in a more specific, safer manner.

Excessive volume can lead to a multitude of non-contact injuries. Anything that ends in "-itis" (patellar tendonitis & hamstring tendonitis), strains, and sprains. Use tempo runs to build you up to the volume of practice/tournaments when you're in the late off-season and pre-season. When practice/tournament volume picks up, tempo runs should become supplemental.

It is important to note that during times of high tempo volume weight training and plyometric volume should be decreased for maintenance.

In-season Tempo

Once you start practicing 2-3x/week you need to cut down on running volume outside of practice. Tempo becomes supplemental, and you don't need high volumes to maintain your aerobic fitness levels.

I suggest using 1/2 to 2/3 of the volume you built up to during the pre-season as your maintenance volume. If you got to 3000m, use 2000m. If you got to 5000m, use 3300m. Many variables will change shift these numbers, but the bottom line is you don't need as much volume as you probably think to maintain your fitness. As long as you are consistent.

If you have a tournament coming up next weekend bring your tempo volume down below maintenance levels with foresight for the impending amount of weekly volume.

Conclusions

That was a lot of numbers.

1) Prepare your body for the volume of running in practice/tournaments. 2) Slowly progress weekly volume based on your current state and training history. Lower volume when practices/tournaments pick up. 3) LSD is not sport specific and can lead to overuse injuries. Use tempo intervals.